factory

[ fak-tuh-ree, -tree ]

noun

, plural fac·to·ries.

1. a building or group of buildings with facilities for the manufacture of goods.
2. any place producing a uniform product, without concern for individuality:

   They call it a law school, but it's just a degree factory.

3. (formerly) an establishment for factors and merchants carrying on business in a foreign country.

factory

/ ˈfæktərɪ /

noun

1. 1. a building or group of buildings containing a plant assembly for the manufacture of goods
   2. ( as modifier )

      a factory worker

2. rare.
   a trading station maintained by factors in a foreign country
3. (formerly) a main trading station for the exchange and transshipment of furs

Derived Forms

• ˈfactory-ˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• facto·ry·like adjective
• sub·facto·ry noun plural subfactories

Word History and Origins

Origin of factory¹

From the Medieval Latin word factōria, dating back to 1550–60. See factor, -y ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of factory¹

C16: from Late Latin factorium ; see factor

Example Sentences

Elon Musk called an attempted cyberattack against Tesla “serious,” a comment that confirms the company was the target of a foiled ransomware attempt at its massive factory near Reno, Nevada.

From TechCrunch

Not only replaceable, but guaranteed replaceable—and for reasonably technical end users, user-replaceable—with easily purchased parts from the factory.

From Ars Technica

The lion’s share of the US’s imported exercise equipment comes from China—some 65% in 2019, according to the International Trade Centre—where factories were shutting down at the beginning of 2020 due to Covid-19.

From Quartz

Anything could be built in industrial areas – standalone homes, apartments, businesses or factories.

From Voice of San Diego

The IT sector offers an alternate way forward in an economy still dominated by Soviet-style collective farms and state-run factories.

From Quartz

The cameraman was reporting on the factory catching fire when the inevitable happened.

From The Daily Beast

A plastic factory, a hardware supplier, and shipping–and-receiving giants like Fed-Ex and DHL are neighboring businesses.

From The Daily Beast

Not just a candy factory but a candy store, and everything in it free.

From The Daily Beast

By day, she cares for her children in a bombed-out milk factory that hosts her orphanage, Okutiuka.

From The Daily Beast

Have we become a nation of Veruca Salts from “Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory,” who are unbearably demanding?

From The Daily Beast

It was afterwards used as a schoolroom in connection with Winfield's factory.

From Project Gutenberg

A Lowell factory-girl would consider this entirely out of character, and a New-York milliner would be shocked at the idea of it.

From Project Gutenberg

Think of this, ye who talk, not always without reason, of "factory slaves" and the meagre rewards of labor in America.

From Project Gutenberg

Gallinas, the noted slave factory on the west of Africa, purchased by the Liberian republic.

From Project Gutenberg

Seven o'clock in the morning is too early for any rational human being to be herded into a factory at the call of a steam whistle.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• branch
• cooperative
• firm
• industry
• laboratory
• mill
• shop
• workshop